Return to Life
by RoFleks 3330
Summary: After Casper gave his last chance to be alive, to save Dr Harvey's life. It seamed almost impossible to get the Lazarus, machine to work again for one more time...


**Return to Life**

**Intro**

Time; is a curious thing, mysterious even for the average human's mind to fully comprehend at any extent. Especially when it comes to life and death; it takes times to live as well as it takes time to die. Almost like how it takes time to do everything else done on a daily bases: breathing, eating and sleeping for example, but the one thing that could never be done with time is the chance to rewind and redo anything you never wanted or liked to have happened in the past.

Sort of how, you suddenly realize you aren't as young as you use to be and no matter how much you want to believe it's not true, life just seems to have already past you by. Sure, possible there maybe the opportunity to get a second chance to have something or do something, again at some point in life, but that really depends on how much you really want it to happen and the passion that is driven into wanting it so much.

The past can never be changed, there for time itself can't be reversed – though the one thing that can be done about it is; learning from it, then living for today and hoping for tomorrow. Simple as can be; you live your life while on the way receiving a few good and bad experiences then in the end giving the option, to decide whether to leave the past in the past, 'forgive and forget' or stay within the past and spend the rest of your life regretting everything.

Some people say, 'when you die it's the end of the world' well for you that is, times up and game over. But even though you're gone you are not really gone. They say they can feel a presence of someone around them, occasionally brining shivers down their spine almost as if they were right there next to them…watching them in the shadows.

Like a ghost.

Funny thing, the supernatural world is, like how do you known if it's actually there or that it's not just the wretchedness and pain felt for a loved one, playing with you head. It's only normal that you want to believe that they're still there with you. But the mind can play most deadly of tricks to make you believe such things, have you believe things are there that aren't actually there; make you lose yourself in a world that isn't real. Though who is to say none it exists at all.

There are questions that everybody askes themselves or is asked at some time in their life, 'if you could change something what would it be?', 'would you ever go back if you had the chance to?' or 'how far would you go to be able to have a different life?" Something along those lines anyway. It's only curiosity…right.

How far would you go? Better yet, what sort of length would you be willing go in-order to bring back a ghost.

**Part 1: It's only just the Beginning**

It had been 3yeasr and seven months since the Harvey's had moved to Friendship, Maine and into what was supposed to be Miss Carrigan Crittenden's Whipstaff Manor left to her by her father. But being the spoiled and greedy witch of a woman she was, tragically left her and her (close personal friend) attorney Paul Dibs to see to their deaths.

Allowing for, Stretch, Stinkie and Fatso, Casper' three obnoxious uncles to continue with haunting the Whipstaff Manor as they please, well not entirely but the free will to stay in the manor and freely float in and out of rooms inside the manor, pranking as they go, well just Dr James Harvey really. A use to be paranormal therapist - who helps ghosts complete their unfinished business and move on. Only to have been pretty much wasting his time looking for something that isn't there: His wife Amelia's ghost; who turned out to be an angel, telling him that he should move on and stop looking for her ghost, because she has no unfinished business. As well as reminding him that their daughter Kathleen "Kat" is indeed a teenager and he should stop trying to think of her as a little girl and being an over protective dad.

Naturally having found what he was looking for, the plan was to wait a couple of months before letting Kat know about his plan to leave Whipstaff and find a more manageable home somewhere in Friendship, Maine , but that all went out the window when he soon realized it was pointless to be even thinking about it. Plus it would have only hurt Kat more than she would probably let on, to leave the one place she made a real friend in a matter of days. Not necessarily a physical being but still a friend nevertheless.

What still struck him at night sometimes was that he died and then was resurrected by a machine named Lazarus, which only works by inserting a formula which brings back the dead. The remarkable thing about it was that it was originally designed to bring Casper back to life and with only one formula bottle left he gave up his last chance ever to become human again to save his life so that Kat wouldn't be without him as well as her mother too.

He knew for a fact that if it were himself in Casper's position he'd do the exact same thing no doubt about it, and with no thanks to the annoying trio he died, forgot his only daughter for miner minutes and still had no idea how it all happened. The Halloween party….now that was something he defiantly knew about. Kat had told him about her first day at school…again and somehow she somehow ended up inviting everybody over for a Halloween party, unintentionally of course, because they put a vote on where it was going to be here (Whipstaff Manor) or Amber's place the stroppy, spoilt class president; who originally was going to host the party. At least that's what Kat said had happened.

Casper however had and entirely different story altogether, sure it all really happened because of a vote between places and the fact no-one really wanted to go to Amber's, but what James didn't know until the end was that the only reason things kicked off in a good way was because Stretch, Stinkie and Fatso had totally freaked Amber and Vic. When they thought they could get away with trying to ruin the party buy dressing up as a fake ghost. That and it was Amelia who had giving him his last wish to be human for the night, so that he could finally get the chance to dance with Kat without anybody knowing who he really was. Something that probably wouldn't have happened if Vic hadn't turned out to be a right jerk and Kat hadn't let him show her how good of a dancer he was.

That probably was one of the best nights they've had in a while since everything had happened, James knew that for sure and now just over 3 years later all seems well…..

Kat came home looking as if she had crying for ages, it didn't help much when the trio had seen her first the minute she walked through the door.

"Oh hey Kat, what happened?" Stinkie asked to her before her dad or Casper could even realize she was back and soaked head to toe.

"Just leave me alone ok. Can you do that, can you leave me alone? Just once! She yelled back glaring at him scaring them away,

"Well, I guest…..we….uh" Stretch stuttered as Fatso then interrupted him and said "See you later" as they all disappeared through the roof , making Dr Harvey run into the hallway from the kitchen worried sick with Casper slowly flowing behind.

"Kat? Kat honey are you alright, what happened?" James asked worried for his daughter as all sorts of things ran through his mind, was she sick, hurt, had someone hurt her.

"It's nothing dad. I'm fine really, just a bad day is all" she assured him before giving him a small kiss on his cheek and heeding up to her room.

Sighing at her lack of reasons, watching her as she went upstairs, James couldn't understand why she wouldn't just tell him straight up what was wrong, then again he still had to remember, Kat is a teenager and there will be moments like this one again; where she won't want to or feel the need to talk to him about her problems. He just had to go with it really, leave the situation along and hope for the best.

"You think she'll be alright, Dr Harvey" Casper asked concerned for his friend.

James looked at Casper shaking his head slightly. "I don't know Casper, I don't know" Casper looked down unsure of what to do with himself. "But, Mr Harvey continued, if you could try and find out what's wrong, I'm positive Kat would mind telling you, right. He asked the small ghost who looked slightly confused about what he meant. I mean I'm her farther and there are something's fathers just don't understand" James told him smiling softly.

Casper looked at him, nodding his head before floating up higher towards the stairs only to be stopped. "And Casper, its James ok, not Dr Harvey" Mr Harvey smiled at him as he turned back towards the kitchen. "Right, Dr…..I mean James" Casper called out to him before continuing his way back up to the bedroom.

"Kat, you here?" Casper called out as he phased through the wall locking round waiting for some sort of response.

A few minutes later Kat emerged from out of the bathroom breathing deeply, walking slowly towards the bed and siting on the edge. "Hey Casper, was there something you wanted. Not to be rude or anything, it's just that I want to be alone for a while" she said to him gently.

"No….well actually I was just, just wondering what was wrong" he told her as he floated beside her with concern in his eyes.

"I know you guys are worried, but you really have no reason to be, honest" she started sighing and shaking her head slowly. "It's stupid, I don't even remember why it bothered me so much in the first place"

"What did?" Casper asked wanting her to continue.

**Flashback – earlier that day**

"Oh, hey Kat how's it going?" Vic called out to her walking down the corridor towards her locker. Turning to look over her shoulder she smiled at him replying "nothing much Vic, just waiting for the day to end, you know"

He nodded. "So listen, a few friends and I were thinking of seeing a movie or something and we were just wondering if you wanted to come with"

Before she could say anything, Amber had shown up smirking as she and Vic both waited on Kat's answer. "emm, I'm not sure" Kat hesitated.

"Vic come on, she clearly doesn't want to come. Good thing to, because Luke will then have to admit…"Amber stopped leaning against a locker.

"Luke will have to admit, what?" Kat asked slowly eyeing them both to see who was going talk first.

Amber laughed, "Haven't you guested yet, he's -"

"Amber no" Vic glared at her, turning back towards Kat who now was beyond annoyed.

"Aww com on Vic, she's going to find out sometime. Amber said pointing at Kat, who watched them closely. It might as well be now"

"It's not our place to say" Vic ground angrily.

"What isn't?" Kat tried again.

"Course it is, we're friends right, somewhat "Amber told him before turning back at Kat.

"Kat there's something you should know, Luke is che…."

"NOTHING!; Vick cried out making everybody look at them strangely before going back to what it was they were doing, he's nothing right Amber" He growled.

Raising and eyebrow at them, Kat pushed passed them only to stop once again and look at them both. "Look whatever it is, Luke needs to say to me, I'm sure he'll tell me himself." She told them both walking away.

"You see what you've done" Vic whispered.

"Hey, it's not my fault; you're the one who wanted to invite her out with us. Then what, hmm just let her walk straight into it and see what he's been doing behind her back" she whispered back at him.

"At least, I had a plan". He said. "oh yeah and what was that, to let her come with us only to find out it was a lie, just to so that she could find Luke cheating on her. Yeah grate plan"

"Luke's what?—"Both Vic and Amber give each other nervous glances, taking a deep breath Vic said, "Luke's being cheating on you, has been for a while" shaking her head Amber continued, "Apparently he thinks you have a new boyfriend or had an old boyfriend before him; you know before you moved here few years ago and people recon, or so we've heard-"She gestured between herself and Vic.

"That the only reason you said you'd go out him…..Vic tuck over from Amber. Was because you wanted to forged your old boyfriend, the one who came to the Halloween party and danced with you until he somehow turned into a ghost" he finished, watching her response.

Mouth hanging open, motionless Kat had no response to what either had said, none whatsoever.

"How? -what? I don't, I can't —"

"We know right, whatever your dad that night was genius. He looked so real" Amber laughed.

"Wait, how you guys would know about what went on at the party. Kat asked confused, remembering what had really happened that night. You both ran out remember, and if I'm correct we never really liked each other"

Again giving each other nervous glances, "Well yeah, suppose we started off on the wrong foot, but we're friends now" They both said, making Kat raise an eyebrow at them once again. Shaking her head slightly she turned background only to face the one thing she didn't want to believe was true, Luke standing there both arms raped round another girl, kissing her as though no-one was around.

Time seemed to have slowed down, stopped even; she couldn't believe what she was watching, her own boyfriend cheating on her right before her eyes. Something broke inside of her. Trying to keep it together Kat collected all of her stuff out of her locker and walked right passed them holding back the tears that threatened to fall. But it was no use.

They were already falling. As she ran passed all of the other students, who were curious as to why she was crying and what had made her want to leave so fast. Everyone looked the way she came and gasped.

**End of flashback**

By the time she had finished telling Casper what had happened, he was ready to explode his face had shown so much emotion that Kat started to worry.

"Casper….CASPER she shouted.

"Hu, oh sorry. He smiled softly. I just can't believe he'd do that to you, you of all people"

"Thanks Casper" She said as she got into bed.

"For what?" He asked

"For listening and being such a great friend"

"Always, you know I'll always be here for you, right" He told his friend.

"Humm" She mumbled

"Night" Casper whispered

A few days had passed since the truth was out in the open about Kat's boyfriend and everything was almost back to normal in the Whipstaff Manor…

"Ahhhaha" Stretch, Stinkie and Fatso cried as they appeared in the kitchen sitting down to be served, by their friendly nephew; who had placed their plates down in front of them.

"Thanks a lot, worm" Stretch mumbled.

"Umm; Casper sighed, sure whatever" as he cleaned up their mess.

"Oh, look guys Casper appears to be, gloom and doom today" Stretch laughed.

"What's the matter Cassssper?" Fatso grind, as Stinkie burped and Stretch continued making a mess.

"You really want to know?" Casper asked frustrated with their constant smart remarks and way of fun to always find a way to put him down at any chance they get.

"Sure, that why we asked isn't it?" Stretched sarcastically said

When Mr Harvey found out about his daughter's boyfriend being a cheating –no-good, liar, he was furious even more so when he thought he could just come round and beg for forgiveness and Kat to take him back, it didn't happen. Mr Harvey personally saw to that -well himself and three of the most annoying ghosts in history; he got them to pull their biggest pranks they knew, under the conditions it wouldn't course any permanent damage. He wanted to scare the lad and send him a message, not scar him for life.

Though it didn't help much after Kat found out about what they've done and how they even come up with their ridiculous plan in the first place. First making Luke feel really uncomfortable by loading a load of nonsenses and meaningless questions onto him (done by James) then flown through the roof as he screamed for mercy and then finally, tied up and made to watch boring shows about opera again and again until he was pretty much hypnotized; motionless.

"I still can't believe what you allowed them to do, dad" His daughter said a few days late.

"I know sweetie, but what else was I supposed to do, hum" He asked sniggering quietly.

Shaking her head at him, she replied; "talk to him"

"Because that's what any other parent would do right?" He asked, taking a sip of his café, Casper just put in front of him and both of their breakfasts. "Thanks son, James said to Casper who nodded and smiled gently.

"Casper will tell me, won't you Casper?" Kat asked him, turning towards him.

"Tell you what? "The young ghost asked in confusing.

"You know, how you feel about what the guys did to Luke. It was wrong right?"

Watching how she leaned back against the chair, he knew there was no point in lying.

"No" he simply said

"See, you're upset over nothing. Her dad told her. I do not get it honest" Mr Harvey continued. "If anything, we did right, the boy hurt you and I wasn't about to just sit around and let him get away with it"

"I agree with your dad Kat, whatever his name was". Casper started, before Kat cut him off, "Luke, Luke Andrews" "Yeah, him what he did to you was absolutely disrespectful and unworthy of even being in your presence"

Mr Harvey smiled at Casper's response. "See, now that's the type of boy I'd like to see you date Kat"

After hearing what James said about him wanting, Kat to date someone like him, it had really come back to him, how much he loved it when he was alive and to be the who brought the smile on Kat's face. Even if it was only for a couple of hours, he still got be alive and dance with the girl who stole his cold, beat-less ghostly heart from the very beginning.

"You alright Casper"? James asked him the next day, he just seamed quiet, well too quiet for him at-least, and usually he'd asked how their day had went and if they wanted anything to eat or drink. But tonight he hadn't even said a word to either of them since they got home.

Nodding his head, "I'm fine, just a little…"

"You're not still upset about what that boy did to Kat, are you?" Mr Harvey asked curiously raising an eyebrow.

"No, no not upset, angry yes but no, I just wish there was another way for me to be….well you know" Casper answered him softly.

Dr Harvey looked at the young ghost sadly. He knew, well anyone who knows Casper really would know how much being human again really meant to him, it wasn't like it was some kind big secret. All he needed was to be given that chance again, to live the life he was once denied and be happy; well James knew of a way in which he could grant the young ghosts only wish he just had to have some time to finish the surprise off then not only will Casper be alive but his uncles too.

If they didn't want to cross over, then who's to say they can't live their lives and torture and annoy people while alive and somewhere else, preferably somewhere far, far away from Whipstaff Manor. Weird how it seemed like to be the only answer to keeping everyone happy, truth is Casper probably deserves more than they will ever do, but he wanted to get at their own game by making them, human, which they don't like then that's exactly what he was going to do, cause when there's a will there's a way.

**Part 2: One Wish **

Month later:

Well what's there to say that hasn't already been said, 3years and 4 months since dad and I had moved here, counting the time we've spent here must be one of the stupidest things I've ever done. Why... well because unlike my dad thinks, I know what he had planned for us , but he never went through with it and I can probably guess why to. It's not only that, it's also the fact that we've spent more than 3 weeks max in one place, surprising is what it is, guess I was just expecting him to announce our next move considering he wasn't needed anymore to remove the ghosts which haunted the manor. Fact, they weren't going anywhere in the first place, not that it would have made much difference anyway.

"Hey, Kat; Casper called out to her as she endured the kitchen. I was meaning to ask you something" he finished as she sat down.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Well it's, it's just that I've been thinking about, well you know umm….." he struggled, trying to find the right words to express his emotions and feelings to Kat without actually being to forwards about it. After all they both knew what his only wish was, but he also knew if that were ever happen again he needed to make sure the feeling was mutual. "What would you do if, if I was to be human again?" he asked Kat, who was watching closely waiting to see if he was going to continue.

"Oh –umm, I don't know really to be honest, Casper. It would greater you know if, if it were true…but" Kat mumbled trying to find the right words to answer his question without hurting his feeling too much. Smiling back him she changed he mind and said, "you know what, I would personally love it, probably more than anyone else.


End file.
